|
Quotable: On
GWB |
“The
majority of American voters would not like
to see President Bush re-elected to
another term according to a poll by
Newsweek magazine."
– VOA News (Voice of America),
commenting on new poll
"Where is the apology to General Shinseki?
Where are the acknowledgements of
misjudging how much people would be deemed
to be liberators versus occupiers?”
–
Kerry, highlighting disagreements
about Iraq operations between the military
and civilian Pentagon leadership |
|
Quotable: On
LIEBERMAN |
"But
the notion of a candidate from Connecticut
prospering in South Carolina, Oklahoma and
Arizona seems a bit of a stretch although
the Democratic electorate in all three
states would be more conservative than
those in Iowa and New Hampshire.”
– Germond, on Lieberman’s
late-strike strategy
"The question for all the Democratic
presidential candidates these days is how
can you get there from here. The answer
for Joe Lieberman is that he probably
can't.”
–
Veteran columnist Germond in yesterday’s
Hartford Courant |
|
Quotable: On
CLARK |
"We need the best, and Wes is best. Wes is
best, Wes is best."
-- Charles King, president of the
Arkansas Democratic Black Caucus,
leading pro-Clark chant at weekend
rally in Little Rock |
|
Quotable: On
GEPHARDT |
“He sounds more like Lyndon B. Johnson or
Harry S. Truman than Clinton or even Al
Gore, who won the popular vote but lost
the election in 2000.”
– VandeHei, on Gephardt
“No major Democratic presidential
candidate is promising to change the
country more dramatically than Rep.
Richard A. Gephardt (Mo.).”
–
Washington Post’s Jim VandeHei,
reporting on Gephardt’s policy
agenda |
|
Quotable: On GRAHAM |
“Everybody's
holding their breath seeing what Bob
Graham's going to do.”
-- Susan MacManus, a political science
professor at the University of South
Florida commenting on Graham’s
decision – or indecision -- about running
for re-election to the Senate |
|
Quotable:
On DEAN |
"After
Iowa and New Hampshire, the race moves
south and out West, where centrist
Democrats tend to do better and where many
think Dean could stumble.”
–
Washington Post’s VandeHei, reporting
on Dean’s unexpected success
"Dean would like voters to believe
that if he abandons the federal spending
caps, it’s because he can’t do the
people’s work and fight the all-powerful
incumbent President with one hand tied
behind his back. That excuse would be a
lie.”
–Union
Leader columnist Bernadette Malone,
commenting on possible Dean
decision to reject public financing |
|
Quotable: On DASCHLE
|
"Daschle is target No. 1.”
–
Stephen Moore, president of Club for
Growth, on efforts to defeat Senate
Dem leader in SD |
Notable
Quotable:
”Come here,
you Communists” – BBC News, noting
the four words that sparked a brawl between
North Korean reporters and peace protestors.
GENERAL
NEWS:
Among
the offerings in today's update:
-
Bad news for
a Monday – Newsweek poll indicates
49% would not support GWB for a second term.
Forty-four percent still would re-elect him
-
Edwards
to announce expanded IA TV buy today, aides
say it proves he’s serious about prez
contest
-
Hartford
paper yesterday featured Jack Germond column
on “Why Joe Lieberman Will Never Be
President” Germond notes that Team
Lieberman is preparing for early – IA &
NH – setbacks, but plans to rebound in later
states
-
Dean –
after planning to run insurgent effort on a
shoestring – tries to adjust to a big-time
campaign with big bucks in the bank. Manager
says the campaign will exceed last quarter’s
fundraising take in September filing
-
Who could
have guessed – as Boston Globe reported
yesterday – that well-known Viet vet Kerry
would launch an aggressive effort to recruit
active-duty military and veterans?
-
In
Dubuque, Kucinich and Willie Nelson push
rural agenda
-
Despite
ultra-liberal tag being attached to Dean,
Kucinich & the Dem crew, Washington Post
reports no candidate is making more
radical “change” noises than Gephardt
-
Ex-wannabe Hart eyes Senate return in
Colorado
-
The Clark
groundswell: About 300 attend rally for the
General in Little Rock – but he’s a no-show
-
Graham’s
“stalled” prez effort continues to torment
FL Dems concerned about losing Senate seat
-
Edwards
setting “hurricane” pace in New Hampshire &
says he’ll follow 2000 McCain model by
holding 100 town meetings in the state
before primary
-
Most
interesting item of the morning:
Peace at hand? BBC News reports on fist
fight between North Korean reporters and
peace protestors
-
Iowaism: The
Hands-On America flag – created to remember
9/11 – is back home with Bettendorf
students
All these stories below and more.
Morning Report:
Story of the
morning – Des Moines hit the 100-degree
mark yesterday for the first time since
7/29/99. The record high for DSM was 104
degrees in 1936. Several school districts
announce early dismissal as temps threaten to
hit three-digit range again today
WHO-TV (Des
Moines) reported that authorities plan
to continue the effort to track down passing
motorists who picked up more than $250,000
that spilled out of an armored truck on
Interstate 80 near Grinnell last week.
The report said about $20,000 was returned
before an amnesty period ended Saturday
afternoon
Radio Iowa
reports that one person was killed and
another person was injured in an
ultralight airplane crash yesterday near
Shellsburg in eastern IA.
CANDIDATES
& CAUCUSES:
… Edwards
to announce expanded Iowa TV schedule today –
adding Sioux City, Ottumwa and Mason City to
current buys. Excerpt from report in
today’s The Union Leader by AP’s Iowa
caucus-watcher Mike Glover: “North Carolina
Sen. John Edwards has decided to expand his
television advertising drive in Iowa and is
throwing a new commercial into the mix
stressing his rural roots. Campaign
officials plan to announce Monday that
Edwards will begin airing the commercial in
Sioux City, Mason City and Ottumwa,
supplementing spots currently running in
Des Moines and Cedar Rapids. The
new commercial will feature a 60-second spot
with Edwards stressing his ties to
Robbins, N.C., a tiny town where he grew up.
‘Our small towns and rural areas are hurting
and Washington doesn't seem to care,’
Edwards said in a simple spot featuring
him talking directly to the camera. Campaign
aides put no price tag on the expanded effort,
but backers said it's yet another sign that
Edwards intends to compete hard in Iowa's
precinct caucuses. ‘We have a strong
infrastructure in place and these ads will
help us build on Senator Edwards'
growing support,’ said Des Moines lawyer Rob
Tully, one of the chairmen of Edwards'
campaign in Iowa. Edwards became the
second Democratic presidential candidate to
begin airing spots in Iowa when he launched
the latest effort. Former Vermont Gov. Howard
Dean has already aired spots in the
state. Most polls have shown Dean and
Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt bunched
tightly near the top of the race for the
state's leadoff precinct caucuses in January.
Those polls have also shown Massachusetts Sen.
John Kerry with significant support,
while Edwards has generally languished in
the single digits. Some have wondered about
the strength of Edwards' commitment to
campaigning in the state - worries that grew
when Edwards announced plans to hold 100 town
meetings in New Hampshire. Critics have
suggested Edwards can't meet that schedule and
still run an active campaign in Iowa.
Edwards has rejected that, and pointed to
a stepped up level of activity in his
campaign. He just completed a showy six-day
bus trip that took him to 19 counties in the
state and he released a list of 210 activists
who have endorsed his campaign. The expanded
television buy to be announced Monday is
further evidence Edwards intends to be
a serious player, aides said.”
… “Why Joe
Lieberman Will Never Be President – The
junior senator is known around Washington as
an especially nice man. But is he looking in
the right direction?” – headline from
yesterday’s Hartford Courant. Excerpts from
lengthy report by veteran columnist Jack W.
Germond: “The question for all the
Democratic presidential candidates these days
is how can you get there from here. The answer
for Joe Lieberman is that he probably can't.
There are, of course, caveats. The senator
from Connecticut may strike an undiscovered
nerve in the electorate in the series of
debates this fall and winter and expose hidden
strength in the Iowa precinct caucuses and New
Hampshire primary. At 61, Joe Lieberman
has some history of defying the conventional
wisdom in 30 years as a politician. But
inside the political community there is a
broad consensus that he is not a serious
contender for the nomination, a view shared by
many of those who like and admire him as well
as some of the liberals who now disagree with
him on key issues. What is also becoming
increasingly apparent is that he has a special
ability - because of both his religion and his
politics - to open fissures in the
Democratic Party that could undermine the
already imposing task of unseating a
Republican incumbent in the White House.
The same could be said of several of the
candidates, but with Lieberman the
potential is obvious. On the face of it,
Lieberman would seem well placed to compete
for the Democratic nomination. He was, as
he likes to remind audiences, the vice
presidential candidate on a ticket that
received the most votes in 2000 and thus
already has ‘defeated’ George W. Bush. His
performance as the first Jew on a major party
national ticket was credited with breaking
that precedent successfully. His Senate speech
criticizing President Bill Clinton's conduct
in the Monica Lewinsky episode was widely
praised by the editorialists and their ilk -
if not by all of his Democratic colleagues in
the Senate. The opinion polls continue to show
him among the better known of the nine
competing for the Democratic nomination. He
is widely known in Washington as an especially
nice man about whom there are no mean stories.
But among the Democratic activists in Iowa and
New Hampshire - there are only a few thousand
in each state - his credentials are less
compelling. And there is more skepticism about
his potential. Sure, he was on the ticket
with Al Gore, but that ticket lost when
it should have won easily. That's the ultimate
sin in politics; it should have been a boat
ride. And, besides, there is still muttering
among the insiders that his conspicuously
civil debate performance against Dick Cheney
fell short, muttering that grows ever louder
as these Democrats observe the harshness of
Cheney's politics as vice president…Lieberman
and his strategists are reluctant to write a
script that leads to the nomination at the
convention in Boston next July. As his
media consultant, Mandy Grunwald, says, ‘You
can drive yourself crazy trying to write 20
different scenarios.’ It is clear,
nonetheless, that they are preparing the
ground for defeat in both the Jan. 19 Iowa
precinct caucuses and the Jan. 27 New
Hampshire primary. In each case they can
cite the hometown favorites from abutting
states - in Iowa Rep. Dick Gephardt of
Missouri and in New Hampshire Sen. John F.
Kerry of Massachusetts and former Gov.
Howard Dean of Vermont. So the
Lieberman strategy is to stay alive through
those first two contests, then show some
political muscle in the next round of
primaries, Feb. 3. But the notion of a
candidate from Connecticut prospering in South
Carolina, Oklahoma and Arizona seems a bit of
a stretch although the Democratic electorate
in all three states would be more conservative
than those in Iowa and New Hampshire.”
… Kerry, searching for
a niche to counter Dean, makes direct
challenge to Bush on national security front
and sets out to recruit active-duty armed
forces and veterans. Headline from
yesterday’s Boston Globe: “Kerry makes bid
for veterans” Coverage – an excerpt – from
Nashua by the Globe’s Glen Johnson: “Senator
John F. Kerry launched a direct challenge
yesterday to President Bush's perceived
strength in national security matters,
reaching out to active-duty and retired
members of the armed forces by questioning the
administration's decision making in Iraq and
its treatment of veterans. Against a backdrop
of a war memorial and standing before a group
of veterans from the Vietnam and Korean wars,
as well as the Persian Gulf War, the
Democratic presidential contender from
Massachusetts accused the administration of
underestimating the peacekeeping demands in
postwar Iraq, of subjecting veterans to long
waiting times for services, and of failing to
change a policy that deducts disability
payments to veterans from their standard
retirement pay. Kerry also sought
to highlight disagreements between the
military and civilian leadership in the
Pentagon. He recalled an occasion in the
spring when the former Army chief of staff,
now-retired General Eric K. Shinseki, drew the
wrath of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld
for telling Congress he envisioned the need
for a force of several hundred thousand
soldiers in postwar Iraq. Rumsfeld said
publicly the estimate was ‘way off the mark,’
but some military analysts now say more than
the current force of 150,000 is needed to
quell attacks on coalition troops. About 65 US
soldiers have been killed in hostile incidents
since the president declared an end to major
combat May 1. ‘Where is the apology to
General Shinseki?’ Kerry demanded, as he
faced the Purple Heart Memorial in Deschenes
Park. ‘Where are the acknowledgements of
misjudging how much people would be deemed to
be liberators versus occupiers?…My friends, we
have read of those troops currently having
difficulty getting water, getting other
supplies. We've read of the requirements that
combat military people are now facing trying
to stand police duty and guard duty in a
postwar situation that was clearly
underestimated -- not by the military
personnel, but by the civilian leaders of the
military, by the administration itself.’ A
spokesman for the Republican National
Committee, which responds on behalf of the
White House to criticism by the Democratic
presidential candidates, did not immediately
return a call seeking comment. The speech
was a preview of remarks Kerry plans to
deliver tomorrow in San Antonio at the
national convention of the Veterans of Foreign
Wars. Also scheduled to address the group
are Rumsfeld and national security adviser
Condoleezza Rice. Kerry plans to
highlight his background as a combat veteran
of Vietnam, as well as the alleged neglect of
veterans, as he publicly kicks off his
campaign with speeches in South Carolina and
Iowa on Sept. 2. Veterans are an active
voting bloc, as Republican Senator John S.
McCain of Arizona showed with his 2000
presidential campaign, and many of them live
in the South, an area Bush swept over Democrat
Al Gore in the 2000 general election.”
… Graham’s refusal to
drop pres bid leaves FL Dems upset and in
“limbo.” Media report notes his “stalled” prez
campaign. Excerpt from report – datelined
Orlando – by AP’s Mike Branom that appeared in
yesterday’s editions: “Bob Graham's stalled
presidential run is un-nerving state
Democratic leaders, who are worried that a
losing campaign for the White House could tip
his Senate seat to the Republicans in 2004.
Five Democrats have
announced their desire to replace Graham,
but intense campaigning for next August's
primary remains on hold because Florida's
senior senator has never publicly ruled out
running for a fourth Senate term if his
presidential bid fails.
‘Everybody's in
limbo right now,’ said Florida Democratic
Party Chairman Scott Maddox.
In a sign that the
Democratic race is stuck in neutral, a
luncheon [Sunday] in Leesburg sponsored by the
Lake County Democrats is expected to draw only
two candidates -- Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex
Penelas and U.S. Rep. Peter Deutsch.
Refusing
invitations were U.S. Reps. Allen Boyd and
Alcee Hastings, while former state Education
Commissioner Betty Castor is sending her
daughter, Hillsborough County Commissioner
Kathy Castor.
‘Everybody's
holding their breath seeing what Bob Graham's
going to do,’
said Susan MacManus, a political science
professor at the University of South Florida.
‘And nobody wants to make a move that might
threaten his support of their candidacy.’
MacManus said the
Senate race could be one of most competitive
in state history, noting that the Republican
field is just as crowded as the Democrats'…Meanwhile,
Graham has yet to distinguish himself from the
throng of Democratic presidential contenders
-- he recently drew support from just 2
percent of those polled in the crucial primary
state of New Hampshire. And he's fared
even worse in Iowa.
The future appears
so dire for Graham's presidential
aspirations, the Orlando Sentinel said in a
Thursday editorial that Graham should
‘bow to political reality’ and drop out of the
race.
But Graham is
ignoring the naysayers and plugging ahead with
his campaign. And that's what the
aspirants for Senate also should do, a
Graham spokesman said.
‘Unlike others,
Sen. Graham has been very encouraging of
people to form campaigns, to raise money, to
hire staff, to do the things they need to do
to get organized to be competitive,’
press secretary Jamal Simmons said.”
… The
Kucinich campaign has postponed the concerts –
but that hasn’t stopped them from teaming up
to push rural agenda in Iowa. Excerpt from
Dubuque coverage in yesterday’s New
Hampshire Sunday Times by IA AP staffer Amy
Lorentzen: “Country singer Willie Nelson
hooked up with Rep. Dennis Kucinich on
Saturday to help the Ohio congressman pitch
his plan to help family farmers.
Kucinich, who is facing eight others in
the race for the Democratic presidential
nomination, said he wants to end
agricultural monopolies, including banning
meatpacker ownership of livestock, and require
country-of-origin labeling on agricultural
products to help farmers compete in a market
that he said continues to crush them. ‘A
president, if he is going to protect the
family farmers, is going to need to break up
some of these agricultural monopolies that
make is impossible for family farmers to
survive,’ Kucinich said at a news
conference before a rally in the eastern Iowa
city of Dubuque. Nelson, founding
performer and president of Farm Aid, the
annual concert that raises money for family
farmers, praised Kucinich's commitment
to rural America. ‘Finally, we have a guy who
is standing up for the small family farmer,’
Nelson said at the rally. ‘Agriculture, our
raw materials, are what we need to take care
of. There's a way to do that, a way to make
it strong again, and Dennis knows the way to
do that.’ Nelson plans to put on a concert
for Kucinich in Iowa, where precinct
caucuses launch the presidential nominating
season. That concert was postponed from
September until later in the fall. Another
concert is scheduled for Cleveland.”
… Weekend Washington
Post report: Gephardt would set out to remake
America as we know it. Report says he’s making
policy arguments that other wannabes won’t
even touch. Weekend headline from
washingtonpost.com: “Promising a Change of
Direction…Gephardt Adopts Policies
That Other Democrats Shun” Excerpt from report
by the Post’s Jim VandeHei: “No major
Democratic presidential candidate is promising
to change the country more dramatically than
Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (Mo.). At a time
when many voters complain of little
distinction between the two political parties,
Gephardt is calling for a bigger and more
activist federal government, one markedly
different from the one envisioned by President
Bush and by the other contenders for the
Democratic nomination. A Gephardt
administration would impose higher taxes on
individuals, restrict foreign trade and pick
up a huge chunk of the nation's soaring health
care tab. At a time of near-record
deficits, Gephardt would lobby Congress
to increase spending for several education
programs, including a universal preschool
program, and create a new energy program. So
far, he has proposed upwards of $3 trillion or
more in new programs, including doubling the
budget for homeland security and tripling the
budget for the National Institutes of Health,
according to a review of his campaign promises
by The Washington Post. (It is impossible
to calculate a precise dollar figure, because
his campaign has not detailed the cost of many
of his proposals.) And there is more to
come: Gephardt plans to unveil a proposal next
month to create a government trust fund for
long-term homeland security needs, according
to a senior adviser. In October, he will
detail a plan for the federal government to
help cover the college costs of 2.5 million
students who agree to teach in public schools
for at least five years, the adviser said.
To help pay for these programs, Gephardt
would repeal all the Bush tax cuts enacted
over the past three years. ‘This election
needs to be about choices -- big choices,’
Gephardt said in an interview this week.
‘If it's just a little different than the
incumbent…people will choose the incumbent. It
is my belief we need have to give a real
contrast.’ To be sure, all the Democrats
running are promising big changes if they are
elected president. Yet Gephardt is offering
voters the starkest alternative to Bush among
the candidates leading in the polls -- and
one that carries the steepest price tag. In
many ways, he would return the country -- and
the Democratic Party -- to where it was before
the 1992 election of Bill Clinton by
emphasizing government programs over tax cuts
for individuals, and protections for workers
and the environment over unfettered global
trade, several Democrats said. On trade, for
instance, Gephardt has promised to fight
for tough labor standards, which would likely
complicate and possibly derail efforts to
complete a trade pact with five Central
American nations. While many of the
contenders are rushing to adopt the centrist
politics Clinton practiced, Gephardt talks
proudly of repealing tax cuts, slapping
restrictions on foreign trade and providing
universal health coverage. He sounds more
like Lyndon B. Johnson or Harry S. Truman than
Clinton or even Al Gore, who won the
popular vote but lost the election in 2000…But
many Democrats -- including other
candidates for the party's nomination -- warn
that Gephardt's agenda does not comport with
the views of most Americans. With
contemporary elections decided by the swing
voters -- those who don't identify religiously
with either party -- Gephardt's ideas
strike these Democrats as way too expensive
and potentially devastating to the party's
hopes of winning back the White House.”
… Poor People Powered
Howard: After planning to run campaign on a
shoestring budget, he now has to adjust to
having a real campaign with real money in the
bank. Headline from weekend report by Jim
VandeHei in the Washington Post: “Momentum
Forces Dean to Shift to Higher Gear” An
excerpt: “Howard Dean, who had planned to
run as an insurgent on a shoestring, is
adjusting his campaign to befit his new lot in
life: the well-funded, emerging front-runner
for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Recent polls show the former Vermont governor
leading here and in Iowa, the first two stops
on the road to the 2004 nomination, running
strong in vote-rich California and surging
nationally. To build on the momentum, Dean
is expanding operations in key states such as
Washington and Michigan, and increasingly
reaching out to centrists by talking up
balanced budgets and gun rights, an issue with
broad appeal in key southern states…The
race remains far too close and volatile to
consider any of the nine candidates a true
front-runner in a contest much of the public
is ignoring, but several rival campaigns
now privately talk of the Vermont Democrat as
the man to beat. Several challengers are
adjusting their campaigns to prepare for a
one-on-one showdown with Dean. ‘I see
ourselves as someone with a big surge, but I
don't think we have cemented our position as
the front-runner at this point,’ Dean
said in an interview. Still, ‘we're prepared
for all of the attacks we're going to get.
Clearly, now, that shoe is on the other foot,
and they are going to come after me.’
Growing popularity is forcing Dean to shift
gears. He's expanding his fundraising and
political operations to profit from the surge.
Campaign manager Joe Trippi said Dean
will raise at least $7.6 million this quarter
and perhaps much more as he expands his donor
base beyond the mostly Internet-generated
liberals who fueled early fundraising. At the
same time, Dean is trying to expand the
appeal of his message. His stump speech to
party activists contains some of the most
poignant, partisan and crowd-pleasing attacks
on President Bush, Attorney General John D.
Ashcroft and House Majority Whip Tom DeLay
(R-Tex.). Indeed, most of Dean's ideas are
clearly to the left of the other Democratic
contenders. He's the most outspoken
defender of gay rights, a popular position
with some activists but one that could hurt
him in the South. He's a strong critic of
Bush's tax cuts, has offered a costly health
care plan and would increase education
spending. The challenge for Dean now is to
transition from champion of the antiwar,
anti-Bush left to electable Democrat without
losing his steam and solid liberal base,
according to Democratic strategists. After
Iowa and New Hampshire, the race moves south
and out West, where centrist Democrats tend to
do better and where many think Dean could
stumble. This transition is no easy task
for the most outspoken critic of the Iraqi war
and one of only two major candidates to call
for the complete repeal of Bush's tax cuts,
the strategists said. Many think Dean
will crumble under the intense scrutiny that
comes from being perceived as the
front-runner.”
… Typical Clark rally
in Little Rock: All the elements and about 300
folks show up – except the presumed wannabe.
Most overblown headline of the weekend –
from the New Hampshire Sunday News: “Clark
supporters rally to call for candidacy”
Excerpt from Little Rock coverage by AP’s Tom
Parsons: “All the elements of a classic
summertime political rally in Arkansas were
present Saturday evening, except one. A small
band warmed up the crowd at the River Market
pavilion on the bank of the Arkansas River
near downtown Little Rock. Red, white and blue
balloons were tethered to railings and chairs,
and a huge American flag was draped across one
end of the pavilion. A large photograph of
a distinguished-looking gentleman provided a
backdrop for the stage. A crowd of about
300 people, many wearing red or blue T-shirts
emblazoned with a message, mopped sweat from
their brows as they cheered for their chosen
candidate. The only thing missing was the
candidate. The crowd turned out in the hopes
that retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark will get
the message and enter next year's presidential
race. A dozen speakers exhorted the crowd
to keep their enthusiasm and support until
Clark announces his decision. Jeff Dailey,
co-chairman for Arkansans for Clark,
said he felt that might happen within the
next few days. Charles King, president of
the Arkansas Democratic Black Caucus told
the crowd that ‘we need another Arkansan to
put America back on the right road.’ Clark
grew up in Little Rock before becoming a
Rhodes Scholar and a having a 34-year career
in the Army, capped by a stint as Supreme
Commander of NATO in Europe. King told the
crowd that, in America, good is not good
enough. ‘We need the best, and Wes is best,’
King said, before leading the crowd in that
chant: ‘Wes is best, Wes is best.’”
… Edwards,
on New Hampshire bus tour, setting accelerated
pace, says he’ll hold 100 town meetings in
state before January vote. Excerpt from
report by the Concord Monitor: “Helen
Dabilis was about to fit a pair of sneakers on
the feet of a young customer at Alec's Shoe
Store in Nashua when a hurricane entered the
store. And this being New Hampshire in primary
season, there was a presidential candidate at
the center of the hurricane. Sen. John
Edwards of North Carolina, surrounded by a
scrum of television cameras and journalists,
strode towards the store's fitting area. ‘I
see him on TV,’ said Dabilis, who's worked at
the shoe store for 40 years. ‘He's pretty
good.’ She paused. ‘But I see more of Dean.
He better get more exposure,’ she said of
Edwards. ‘Tell him to get out there.’
Edwards followed that advice to a T
yesterday, as he shook hands and squeezed
shoulders along Main Street in Nashua, spoke
to the employees of an engineering company in
Concord and offered a free barbecue (300 hot
dogs and hamburgers in less than two hours) in
Manchester. It was the first day in a nearly
week-long swing through New Hampshire that
will take the candidate to 30 cities and
towns. And that's just the beginning.
Edwards said yesterday that he planned to hold
100 town hall-style forums in the state before
the presidential primary in January. ‘I
want to make sure not only that I get a chance
to talk to as many voters as possible here in
New Hampshire but also that I get a chance to
hear from voters,’ Edwards said
yesterday. That intense schedule mimics the
format used by Sen. John McCain four years ago
to win the state's Republican primary. In
the months before the 2000 vote, McCain held
more than 100 town hall forums across New
Hampshire. But Edwards will have to work
hard to repeat McCain's success here.
Edwards and his aides say once the candidate
begins to speak to more voters one-on-one,
they will like what they hear. And more forums
will provide just such an opportunity.”
… “Dean’s success
shows how unnecessary taxpayer financing is to
campaigns” headline on column by
Bernadette Malone in yesterday’s New Hampshire
Sunday News. Excerpt from column by Malone,
the UL’s former editorial page editor: “Blame
Bush. That’s the ticket. If former Vermont
Gov. Howard Dean becomes the Democratic
Presidential nominee and doesn’t adhere to the
federal limits on campaign spending as he said
he would, he and all of his admirers in
Hollywood and the liberal media are going to
shrug and sigh, ‘It’s Bush’s fault; he had
such a big war chest, Dean had to do it.’
And that will be a lie. Of course,
President Bush is a fundraising master. In
2000 he declined the opportunity to take
public funds because he was able to raise so
much money on his own. The Left skewered him
for it: That rich Texas oilman born with a
silver spoon in his pie-hole! Boy, they were
angry that Bush was so popular with
Republicans that he could raise a lot of
money. (Considering how odious half the
country found Bush, they should have been
happy he wasn’t taking the money withheld from
their paychecks to fuel his campaign.) Partly
because of his post-September 11 popularity,
Bush will be able to forgo public funds again
in 2004, it appears. Now Dean is having a
parallel experience: Because he is so popular
with the left, he is attracting plenty of
campaign dollars — especially through his
Internet site. Sure, he said he’s for
public financing of campaigns so no one
candidate has an innate advantage over
another. But he said that five months ago,
when he was a minor candidate in need of a
handout. At that time, the spending caps
benefited Dean. Adhering to them
ironically would have led him to the biggest
possible pile of cash: U.S. taxpayer dollars.
Now Dean is the frontrunner, rolling in dough.
Last week he floated a ‘trial balloon’ when he
casually mentioned that some on his staff
would like to see him do without public
funding so he won’t be constrained by spending
limits in the general election. Dean would
like voters to believe that if he abandons the
federal spending caps, it’s because he can’t
do the people’s work and fight the
all-powerful incumbent President with one hand
tied behind his back. That excuse would be a
lie…In the first paragraph of Tuesday’s
lead editorial, the liberal Washington Post
sympathetically quoted Dean as asking,
‘The question is what do you do with an
opponent who can murder you from March to
December?’ Other candidates will whack Dean
for his change of heart, the Post noted, and
‘deservedly so.’ But instead of concluding
that Dean ought to keep his word and
abide by spending limits, or that candidates
should be allowed to spend whatever they can
raise from donors, the Post concluded that
Congress should change the campaign finance
laws again. There are two lessons Howard
Dean ought to learn here. The first is that
he’s going to lose credibility with voters if
he opts out of spending limits two elections
in a row. The second is that maybe candidates
don’t need to have their views subsidized by
American taxpayers. Dean is doing a
commendable job of raising money by using the
Internet creatively and by distinguishing
himself from the Democratic field by exciting
the hardcore Left. Americans vote with
their dollars, and Dean is winning among
Democrats. Why, then, does Dean
pretend to champion a candidate welfare system
he clearly doesn’t need or heed?”
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